Lexus' Latest Concept Car Was Inspired By a Copper Pot

When you grow up in Detroit, Michigan and have multiple family members who are engineers, a career in automobiles is fairly inevitable. Still, Kevin Hunter has found a way to meld the scientific and technical aspects of cars with his passion for the arts by spending 35 years working for Calty Design Research, Toyota Motor Corporation’s North American design studio. As president of Calty since 2007, Hunter oversees research, advanced design and production design. One of his most recent projects, the Lexus LF-1 Limitless Future Concept Vehicle, a rose gold-hued flagship luxury crossover, was on display earlier this month at Design Miami, which Lexus sponsored.

Created with the idea of "molten katana"—or the melding of soft-edged liquid metal with the sharpness of a Japanese sword—in mind, the LF-1 Concept is meant to transcend the, well, limits of automobile categories. It melds the practicality of a station wagon with the sexy athleticism of a sports car; it has the potential to run on gasoline, all-electric or as a hybrid, and, of course, it has a hands-free chauffeur driving mode.